There is a need for improved wear resistant coatings for metallic surfaces for use in high-stress environments, such as for steam turbine components. For example, erosion caused by solid particles in steam turbine components in power utilities is a significant problem costing in the area of hundreds of millions of dollars per year in utilities in the United States.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide improved coatings for metallic surfaces characterized by improved hardness and resistance to erosion, particularly to erosion by solid particles. It is a further object of the present invention to provide novel compositions which are useful for forming coatings on metallic surfaces characterized by improved hardness and resistance to erosion.